Celebrating the 2025 Excellence and Service Awards at SVHM You are here:HomeNewsroomNews Staff from across St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM) came together for the 2025 Excellence and Service Awards, recognising the people whose dedication and compassion define who we are. This year, awards across four categories recognised the many ways our staff go above and beyond to deliver excellent care. We also celebrated colleagues reaching 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years of consecutive service. Congratulations to all of our Excellence and Service award recipients! Clinical Excellence Award: Dr Harry Eeman from the Barbara Walker Centre for Pain Management, and Emma Fredrickson and Carlee Holmes from the Young Adult Complex Disability Service Pictured L-R: Emma Fredrickson, Carlee Holmes and Richard Kane (accepting on behalf of Harry Eeman). In a powerful example of multidisciplinary excellence, Harry, Emma and Carlee came together to support a young patient living with a debilitating spinal condition. When the patient expressed his wish to be able to sit upright out of bed without so much pain, the team acted swiftly to find a solution. Within a week, the team had conducted a complex seating assessment, successfully trialled a new seating system and secured NDIS funding. This collaboration was driven by compassion and transformed not just the patient’s comfort but his quality of life, granting him the joy of sitting outside in the sunlight. Excellence in Improvement and Innovation Award: Project 24 ARTHRO This multidisciplinary team focused on getting patients home sooner from joint replacement surgeries. In 2024, the average length of hospital stay for hip or knee replacement was 4.5 days, which Project 24 ARTHRO sought to decrease. The results of this 2025 pilot project were remarkable, with 73% of patients included in the pilot were discharged within 24 hours, with no adverse complications or readmissions. The collaboration between these surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists and occupational therapists has achieved real progress in reducing length of hospital stays while maintaining patient safety and patient satisfaction. Research Excellence Award: Dr Margaret Ross and Dr Justin Dwyer Dr Margaret Ross and Dr Justin Dwyer have led Australia’s first clinical trial of psychedelic-assisted therapy for palliative care patients, finding that participants experienced lasting improvements in mood, outlook and wellbeing for up to six months. The four years Margaret and Justin committed to this research have contributed to a growing international body of evidence on psychedelic-assisted therapy. Their research is the focus of Edge of Life, a new documentary set for release in early 2026. St Vincent’s Values Award: Nuala Barker Nuala, a recognised expert in the field of dialysis, has led the service at SVHM for over a decade. She fosters a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, supporting her team to deliver every patient the best possible treatment. When the dialysis service was relocated this year, Nuala led her team through the transition with her trademark professionalism and grace, embodying our St Vincent’s Values. Service Awards We also celebrated staff achieving decades of consecutive service years at SVHM. This was an incredible testament to their commitment to our hospital and the communities we serve.